Six Strangers Chat In A Dark Room. When The Lights Turn On, They Can’t Believe Their Eyes

The moment some stranger sees you, his or her brain makes a thousand calculations: Are you someone to approach or to avoid? Are you friend or foe? Do you have status and authority? Are you trustworthy, competent, likable, confident, and so on.

And these calculations are made at lightning speed — making major decisions about one another in the first seven seconds of meeting.

However, in this campaign ad run by Coca-Cola, the ‘seeing’ part is missing. They invited six strangers to sit in a dark room together. One-by-one, they share their stories with each other. When the lights come on, they are astonished. Their reactions are proof that “judging a book by its cover” is never a good idea.